Blog

1st Thomas Reinke started off the new club year already in midseason form, going 4-0 +342. He narrowly escaped with a win in the first round, beating Helen 456-450. 450 is Helen's second-highest losing score ever; she had previously lost to Thomas with a 459 a few years ago (secondary fun fact: she played TWISTIER in both of those games). Her triple-triple of SLUMPING for 167 wasn't quite enough to earn the win. In the second round, Thomas had another high-scoring close game, this time a 489-478 win versus Bryan. 478 is Bryan's second-highest losing score ever; he had previously lost to Thomas with a 519 a few years ago. Thomas bingoed with LATENTS, ALEURONE, ATTIRED, and DENOTES, while Bryan played SEIZING, GOATIER, and AFEBRILE (adj. having no fever). Thomas got most of his spread in the third round when he dropped 554 on Richard. His bingos were ABOITEAU (n. a dam to prevent the tide from overflowing a marsh, also spelled ABOIDEAU), IONISED, OVERFED, and BATTERS. The fourth round saw his return to having close games, as he eked out a 370-361 win against Mark using the British dictionary. Mark played the very nice EBENEZER* (only good in the British dictionary, and it doesn't mean what you think it means, I was definitely thinking like the famous SCROOGE) right at the end to make things close.

2nd Bryan Benwitz averaged 469 points per game, a stunning number which puts all MLB, NBA, and NFL teams and their paltry point totals to shame, and went 3-1 +316. His lowest-scoring game was in the first round, a 395-329 win against Betty. Betty double-blank-bingoed with CLERKED for 83, going for the "High C" prize, but her money was rudely taken from her when Bryan responded with VACATES for 89. As mentioned, he had a high-scoring loss against Thomas in the next game, 478-489. I guess the moral of the story is that playing three bingos is not enough when your opponent plays four. Not a very good moral, and not very applicable to life in general, but whatever. Bryan attempted to get revenge in the third round, but his vengeance was misplaced as he accidentally beat the other Reinke instead of the one he just lost to. The final was 523-412, with Bryan bingoing with TANNERS, DEROGATE, and MIDDLES. In the final game, he beat Dennis 478-328. Dennis bingoed first with GRANTOR, but Bryan responded with PREUNITE and SOLIDER.

3rd James Frankki put in his third straight 3-1 performance, ending at 3-1 +175 and finishing in third place. That 3-1 finish seemed to be jeopardized by his first-round loss to Dave, 373-388, followed by him getting paired up with Charles in the second round. However, he chose this time to activate "Frankki Mode", which is where he starts drawing better tiles, and won 399-368. He bingoed with MOUSING and PILEATE (adj. having a PILEUS, the umbrella-shaped portion of a mushroom) while Charles could only manage SILANES. "Frankki Mode" continued with a 442-389 win over Helen in the third game. He only bingoed once, with RESTING, so he must have been getting some big power tile plays to score so many points. The upward trend of his scores culminated in a 471-point game against Mary, when he bingoed three times: AURORAS, ABALONE, and DECRIER (at least that's what I think he played; the way it was written on the scorecard it maybe could have been DERRIER*).

1st Charles Reinke won the final session of the club statistical year, going 4-1 +296. In the first round, he beat Richard 492-379. Richard bingoed with OUTLINED and INTERCUT, and Charles played EMERSION and PENSIONI (plural of PENSIONE, a boarding house). He played two in the second round, one of those games being a 473-307 win over Betty. He played the fancy OOGENIES in that one, but what would've been even fancier is if he put the Z on it for ZOOGENIES. In the other game, he beat Dave 419-322, only bingoing once with PUTTIERS. Against Thomas in the next round, he won a close one, 415-407. He had bingoes of LOITERER, PLICATE (adj. pleated) and EYEWEAR. Thomas bingoed late with HOSANNA (v. to praise) to make things close, but he still came up just short. In the final game, things got off to a bad start (or good, depending on whether you are Team Charles or Team Bryan) when Bryan played a double-double GATEWAYS for 106 through Charles' opening play. Bryan then quickly added LUCERNE and IMPULSE to put the game out of reach, though Charles did get OXTAILS for 97 to partially soothe his wounds.

2nd Dave Gilligan had one of his better nights as a Madison Scrabbler, coming in second with a 3-1 +392 record. He had a fairly substantial win against Sue in the opening game, 412-304, helped by his bingo of SEEPING. Most of that positive spread was taken away in the second game, as he faced Charles and lost 322-419. He did out-bingo his opponent, playing IDEATION (anagrams to IODINATE and TAENIOID) and the word-of-the-week TRIMARAN, and was stopped from bingoing again by the closed-ness of the board. Knowing that he had to finish with a +392 spread to make sure the prewritten writeup (it saves a lot of time for these things, I've got like three months worth written up already, if you want to see how you're going to do in a few weels just hit me up and we can negotiate... payment) was factually correct, Dave got to work, beating Richard in the third round 427-246. He bingoed with TOILETRY and AIRIEST. AIRIEST has now been played 32 times since we started keeping track, more than any other bingo, beating out ETESIAN which has "only" been played 31 times. His final win was even more impressive, a 200-point win over Helen, 456-256. His final play of HEARTENS for 80 was a big part of him coming in second place over the three other players at 3-1.

3rd James Frankki went 3-1 +355, his number of wins coincidentally aligning with his paragraph placement. He lost a close contest in the first round, falling 366-378 to Bryan, the difference in bingos (63 for RESTATED for for James, 68 for URINATOR for Bryan) accounting for nearly half of the difference. After that, things went better for him, starting with a 439-291 win against Richard in the second round. In that game, he bingoed with REASONED and SIXTIES (new rule: any time you play a number, that's how many points you score for the play. Suddenly the letters for GOOGOL and GOOGOLPLEX became a lot more valuable!). His biggest win of the night came against Betty in the third round, as he scored 488 and bingoed with LEPTONS and UREDIAL (adj. pertaining to a UREDIUM, a spore-producing organ of certain fungi). Against Thomas in the last round, he opened with SUITERS, and rode that advantage to a narrow 388-380 win. His non-bingo play of AQUAVIT (n. a Scandinavian liquor, also spelled AKVAVIT) was instrumental in the win, even if he claims that aquavit is to expensive to be consumed on a regular basis in the United States.

Congratulations to Thomas Reinke for claiming the title of "Club Champion" for this club season! His winning percentage of 75 percent edged out Charles' 74.1 percent. Charles had won the last few years, so it's nice to see a new face as champion (even if the face is basically the same as the previous ones).

1st Charles Reinke withstood a first-round defeat to finish at 4-1 +199. That initial setback was courtesy of Lynda Finn, who easily turned him away, 481-377. Charles was left with just one bingo of ROOTLET, while Lynda got DETECTED, STOURIE, and a late 92-point SONGLIKE to put the game away. The agony of defeat (or at least the 'mild displeasure' of defeat) was quickly forgotten as Charles won both games of a two-on-one against Barb Pratzel and Mary Becker. The game against Barb was relatively close at 423-371; Barb played RATINGS to Charles' URANIUMS and ALTERITY. Against Mary, Charles use a trio of bingos (BISTORT, NEUROID, and TAGLESS) to comfortably reach a 488-323 victory (Mary did get CRAVINGS down to avert complete catastrophe). In round three, Charles encountered Thomas Reinke (a suspicious confluence of last names) and came away with a 444-435 win, thanks to bingos of ATHETOID and BARGUEST. A similar fate befell Bryan Benwitz as he faced off against Charles in round four and lost 401-478. Charles' pulverizing double-double of CERVEZAS for 122 may have been the deciding factor. Either that or his icy demeanor which disquiets any who dare to sit across the board from him.

2nd James Frankki also withstood a first-round defeat to place second with a 3-1 +87 record. Barb Pratzel was the one who marred his otherwise perfect record, defeating him 423-362 and outbingoing him two to nothing (with CODINGS and ENQUIRED). In the next game, James barely came away with the victory against Bryan Benwitz, 353-345. He displayed flagrant mercilessness by phonying with RHYMIST* and then challenging off Bryan's attempt to pluralize the word, but sometimes, flagrant mercilessness is what's necessary to win a board game. James continued his merciless ways by shutting down Helen Flores in a low-scoring 359-245 win where James' late REEARNED was just icing in the cake of triumph. A solid night of Scrabble was capped by a 402-376 win against the fearsome Thomas Reinke, who couldn't overcome James' steady scoring output despite surpassing him in the bingo column (James had MASTERS, while Thomas had PERIGEE and TODDLERS).

3rd Thomas Reinke went 3-2 +225, and, contrary to the two players who finished above him, started strong before petering out at the end. His first-round matchup against two players was fruitful; he defeated Helen Flores 452-356 and Dave Gilligan 429-331. In the former game, his play of WATERLO? could have been either WATERLOG or WATERLOO, and the inscrutable scrawlings on his scoresheet do little to illuminate the issue, so it is decreed that he played WATERLOG. Thomas' third and final win of the session was in round two against Lynda Finn, 407-341. In a tale as old as time, two bingos (UPRAISED and SOLVATE) prevailed over a single bingo (CINEMAS). Thomas' fortunes took a downward trend in the next game, as a 435-444 loss was only that close thanks to an out-bingo of CARPETED (in addition to earlier bingos of LITOTES and IRONIST). The aforementioned 376-402 loss to James Frankki in round four was a continuation of that trend, but Thomas still came away with third place, so how downward could it possibly have been anyway?